In a wireless communication network, nodes are connected wirelessly to the network. In some wireless networks, the wirelessly-connected nodes are themselves physically mobile, e.g., a conventional mobile-telephony network. While user equipment (UE), e.g., mobile telephones, attached to a conventional mobile-telephony network are themselves physically mobile, their communication is supported by physically stationary infrastructure, namely stationary base stations in different locations that communicate with a remote, stationary mobile-telephone-switching office (MTSO). A given one of the UEs can move from the coverage area of a first base station into the coverage area of a second base station. To facilitate the handoff of a given UE from the first base station to the second base station, some received signal strength data are collected by and received from the given UE by the first base station.
Many locations throughout the world lack such physically-stationary network infrastructures and/or exist under conditions that deter, if not prevent, construction of the same. In a war zone, for example, building stationary network infrastructure is not feasible due, e.g., to the transient nature of military personnel and equipment.
One device that can be used to improve communications in such environments is a mobile cellular network (MCN) communication system. Aside from the UEs, in an MCN, all of the components of a typical cellular network reside in one device (referred to herein as a network-in-a-box (NIB)). The NIB itself is mobile. The MCN provides an example of a wireless network in which not only the wirelessly-connected nodes themselves are physically mobile, but the infrastructure that supports their communication (namely, the NIB) also is physically mobile.
The NIB is self-contained in that it does not need to communicate with other base stations or an MTSO to provide complete cellular network functionality to instances of user equipment (UEs) within its area of coverage. One example of a commercially available NIB is the XIPHOS™ available from OCEUS NETWORKS™.
As an NIB moves, the network coverage (that it provides) moves with it. To increase the range of a MCN, multiple NIBs can be networked together to create a network of MCN communication systems, also referred to herein as a NOM. Among other things, the MCN communication system can perform handover operations when a UE moves from one coverage area to another coverage area within the NOM. Furthermore, if an MCN communication system moves from one location to another, the NOM can allocate affected UEs between the moving MCN communication system and other MCN communication systems in the area.